Time to make health care reform work

I wish to thank you for the article, "Reform moves ahead" (June 29). I believe the article did an excellent job portraying the facts regarding the Supreme Court decision. It is refreshing to hear a non-partisan synopsis of such a politically polarizing issue. It is on this note that I wanted to write to highlight the irony of the partisan politics surrounding the bill.

The ACA is truly a politically neutral piece of legislation, drawing from ideas promulgated by both parties. In order to pass the law in the first place, compromises were made on both sides of the political spectrum. Indeed, the idea of the individual mandate is essential to Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care policy. Many of the more "liberal" ideas discussed early in the dialogue on health care reform such as a single payer system and provision of coverage to undocumented Americans were rejected from the final version of the bill. Yet, as time has passed, it seems both parties have lost sight of the objectives of the bill, to provide health care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, and are instead using the bill to practice partisan politics and to further divide the nation.

Unfortunately, both parties continue to bicker and point fingers rather than focusing on developing strategies for implementing and further funding this new policy. Americans have begun to realize the benefits of the bill as well as its limitations. I would implore both sides to remember that the matter at hand is the health of our neighbors and families. Let us put behind our petty differences and work to redefine the U.S. health care system as one that provides the highest quality care to all Americans, not just those with the means to afford it.